


Sleight of Hand

by AceQueenKing



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Mentions of Character Death: Anakin Skywalker and Sheev Palpatine, Parenthood, Past Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Politics, no empire au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 01:03:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14630790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: Padmé tries to fend for herself and for the Republic, while also battling the curiosities of a pair of toddlers.





	Sleight of Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [StarWarsMothersDayPromptFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/StarWarsMothersDayPromptFest) collection. 



Padmé Amidala was about halfway through the Chandrilan Senator's latest proposal for the shut down of the clone tanks on Kamino when she realized that the twins were quiet.

Not a good sign. The children had inherited their father's loud voice, which had, in part, kept her going after Anakin had been killed during the unsuccessful rescue attempt of the Chancellor. It was still hard to believe that, of all things, was what had ended the war, but it had. Obi-Wan had managed to capture Count Dooku, but Chancellor Palpatine and Anakin had both been killed in the attack. At first, she had been devastated, but once the twins were born, she had felt a new sense of purpose. As had the fact that she had been declared Chancellor to replace Palpatine — thanks to Bail and Mon Mothma — and certainly meant she was always busy.

If the twins were quiet, it meant they were up to mischief, and mischief for the toddlers could be something as innocuous as dressing Luke up in Padmé's headdresses (which, she could not deny, he was very cute in) to something as disastrous as Leia deciding that she would turn on her dearly departed father's lightsaber (which, Obi-Wan had gone to great pains to smuggle out of the Jedi Temple for her - and she could not say no).

"Luke? Leia?" The Chandrilan plan to gently phase out the clone tanks forgotten, Padmé stood from her chair at the Chancellor's desk. It still felt strange to be here rather than in her old, small office, though she was thankful that Palpatine had had such a large office built for himself. It meant she didn't feel too guilty about bringing the twins with her. There were no answering giggles, and Padmé had to admit that was even more concerning. The absence of smoke, with her two toddlers, often meant the office was burning, just somewhere she couldn't see.

There was the faintest hint of a giggle from the kitchenette that Padmé had installed in a quarter of the Chancellor's office, mostly out of necessity when it came to pumping — she had been so busy handling the end of the war that she didn't have any time to take maternity leave, but nature had still dictated that - well, that she needed to produce. Old Palpatine had never had to worry about such things. But closed doors meant mischevious babies now that they were fully able to open them, and Padmé didn't need the force to jog over to the kitchen as quickly as she could, though she still wished she had it. "Luke? Leia?"

She pushed open the door gently, lest she smack one of the two twins with it, and found the fridge door open. She could see two toddler legs poking out underneath it. Uh oh.

"What are you two into?" She asked, leaning down. Luke grinned up at her, holding a bright blue tube of frosting in his hands. He waved it up at her, a small grin on his face.

"Mama," he said, grinning up at her. She smiled down at him and then looked for his sister - who was sitting next to him, a self-satisfied smile on her bright blue face - and hair.

"Painting," Leia drooled, then licked her bright blue chin.

"Oh, my," Padmé sighed, then smiled. Given everything else it could have been, she was so happy that it was something as simple as giving Leia a light bath. And fortunately, Leia was still small enough Padmé could get away with bathing her in the Senior staff bathroom.

She'd have to have Threepio keep an eye on them whenever they went into the kitchenette. She moved carefully in front of them, grabbing Luke's hand and slowly removing the blue frosting tube. Mentally, she made a note that she would need to buy more frosting, since she still had to decorate a cake for Sabé when she came back from Theed.

"C'mere, you two," she said, picking up Luke in one hand and Leia in the other. Luke whined, upset with losing his "paintbrush"; anticipating this, Padmé grabbed a couple juiceboxes. It was about time for afternoon snacks anyway. "Let's go on a little adventure, okay?"

"Okay," Leia said, gripping her arms and looking up at her with a smile that resembled Anakin's so much. Padmé felt her heart squeeze; it happened less now than it had when Anakin's death was still fresh, but she wasn't sure she would ever get over him never getting to meet their babies. Never even getting to know he was going to  _have_ babies. She knew, of course, that he would have loved them. Both the Jedi and Anakin's slave ancestors believed in spirits, and Padmé had little doubt that Anakin was watching over all three of them, even if she couldn't see him.

She should have brought Threepio and R2 today, she thought, grimacing as she struggled to open the door with the twins still in her arms. It took a couple minutes, and Leia started to fidget, beating her juice box against her mother's arm.

After three furtive attempts to almost grasp the door controls, Padmé gave up and rammed the control with her elbow, forcing the door open.

"Alright, team Naberrie one, team door, zero." She grinned as she burst through the door. Luke dropped his juice box and wailed, and Leia, keying into her brother's distress, began to wail with him. Padmé wondered about that sometimes, if it was a sign the twins were force-sensitive. She hoped not. She couldn't bear to have the Jedi take them from her.

"It's okay, babies, it's okay," she said, humming a Naboo lullaby her own mother had sung to her - though to little avail, as Leia's keening reached ear-splitting levels.

Somehow, despite the din of the twins, Padmé heard the sound of the door opening and the swish of robes on the floor. She froze, bouncing the twins in her arms, though it was to no avail: both continued to cry.

"Senator Amidala," Mas Amedda's voice said, clipped and disdainful as always. He always seemed almost convinced that she herself had killed Palpatine, somehow, and thus was responsible for his fall in status after the fall of his beloved Chancellor.

" _Chancellor_ Amidala, _Visier_ Amedda," she said, giving him her best steely-eyed glare despite the ensuing squalling of her infants. She had, of course, had nothing to do with Palpatine's death - any more than she had Anakin's. Obi-Wan had found them both dead, with Dooku in a deep coma, and Padmé had made her peace with not knowing what, exactly, had happened. If only Mas Amedda could do the same.

"Of course, do forgive me," he said, though his voice was not at all even slightly apologetic. He sniffed, then wrinkled his nose. "Must you keep these young vermin with you? Really, Chancellor, this is a _professional_ building - "

"Yes, I do," she said, inwardly seething though forcing herself to smile, knowing it would piss Amedda off more. "My handmaiden was called back home for an emergency. I am making due."

"Surely your droids could corral the little miscreants- "

"I prefer to keep my children with me, given that I am their sole parent and it was not three weeks ago that Senator Binks was _nearly_ killed by an R7 unit," Padmé snapped; Luke wailed and held out a hand toward Amedda, who looked as if he might die should the child actually succeed in touching him. "I assure you, should you wish to _make an appointment_ rather than barging into my office, I will have my children properly _corraled_ , as you put it. Now, Mr. Amedda, what are you here for?"

"Troop deployments from Kamino," he thundered, holding a copy of Mon Mothma's latest proposal. "Surely you are not fooled by this garbage that is barely worth being considered a thought exercise?"

She pursed her lips. "I have not finished the Senator's proposal yet, Mr. Amedda."

"Of course not, with your - your _children_ ," he sneered. Leia, as if she knew she was being insulted, wailed louder. "But know Chancellor Palpatine is spinning in his grave at this very affront."

Padmé very much doubted it. Chancellor Palpatine wasn't one for regrets, if the rumors about him were true. She pressed one hand to Leia's back to try to comfort her, while Mas Amedda continued to list all the ways that Palpatine would surely be disappointed in her. That was nothing new.

While giving him only the very slightest of her attention, she managed to comfort both Luke and Leia to the point they ceased their squalling. Now it was only Leia's paint job that Padmé had to fix, once Amedda finished.

"And one more thing," Amedda said, and Padmé bit back the sigh of relief she so wanted to let out. "I hope you know I will be opposing this, to the highest office that I am able to, and I am prepared to order a vote of no confidence should - "

Padmé resisted the effort to roll her eyes. Amedda was a problem that it was becoming more and more clear she would have to deal with, and soon. She wished there was a way to distract him now that he was really on a tear without offending him any more than he would be. Perhaps arranging a meeting between Amedda and Mon Mothma -

"And don't even THINK you can play me off by offering to take it under discussion and arranging a meeting with Mon Mothma," he growled. "I used to handle the Chancellor's office, Amidala. And believe _me,_ I know how to handle power."

She sighed. So much for that theory. She stared hard at a vase on the shelf behind her and wished, badly, for it to collapse.

The vase wobbled. And before she could come to grips with the ramifications of that, it fell to the floor.

"What the - " Amedda said, visibly startled by the near miss with one of Palpatine's vases that she hadn't bothered to get rid of yet.

"Oh, dear," Padmé said. "Mr. Amedda, I will get back to you, but I really need to clean that up, especially with - well, we wouldn't want any workplace accidents, would we?"

Mad Amedda's mouth settled into a thin, red line. "Of course." He spun on his heel and left, and Padmé enjoyed the peace for a moment.

"I wonder what caused that," she said, grabbing the twins and continuing onward before there were any more interruptions. She stepped over the broken pottery carefully, careful not to step on it. Bleeding was a problem she did _not_ need.

"Da-da," Luke said, drooling, and she stopped in her tracks.

"What did you say?" She peered down at her toddler, her breath all but caught in her throat. Did - _was_? She twirled back and looked at the doorway where the pottery laid broken, but, of course, there was nothing there.

"Daaaaaaaa," Luke drooled, pulling on her hair. "Daaaa daaa daaa."

Silly. She shook her head. Children said nonsense syllables all the time, and of course, her own children were not immune to such. But...Still, she turned toward the doorway, despite knowing there wasn't likely to be anyone or anything there. "Thank you," she whispered.

And in spite of knowing it was likely merely the shifting of the winds that answered her, she did feel better.

"Now," she said, beaming at Leia and Luke, who by now had taken some of his sister's blue frosting in her hair and was painting on his own cheek with it. Of course. At this point, it didn't even phase her. "Let's get you cleaned up."


End file.
